Forum on ASEAN Economic Community slated in Zamboanga City

ZAMBOANGA CITY HALL

ZAMBOANGA CITY, May 14 (PNA) -– Preparations are underway for the holding of a forum on the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in this city.

The preparation is being spearheaded by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) being the designated chair of the AEC Task Force.

DTI Regional Officer-in-Charge Sitti Amina Jain said Wednesday that the forum is scheduled to be held in May 27 this year under the aegis of the Task Force on ASEAN Integration of the Regional Development Council-9 (RDC-9).

Jain said that the underlying objective of the forum is to raise the level of awareness about the AEC and “its implications to our economy both at the regional and national levels.”

Jain disclosed that resource speakers from DTI-central office will be on hand during the forum in the persons of Assistant Secretary Ceferino Rodolfo who will talk on the topic, Advancing Philippine Engagement in AEC: The Philippine Status of Commitments.

Rodolfo will be joined in by the DTI’s Bureau of Export Trade Promotion Director Senen Perlada who will discuss about ASEAN Integration: An Overview, and the Philippine Free Trade Agreements (FTAs).

Jain said that speakers from the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) in the persons of Dr. Erlinda Medalla and Dr. Adoracion Navarro will discuss the topics Achieving AEC 2015: Trade Liberalization and Facilitation; and, Infrastructure and Logistics: Moving Toward AEC 2015, respectively.

She said that DTI Undersecretary for the Regional Operations Group Zenaida Cuizon-Maglaya had been invited to give the keynote message during the forum.

She said that all local chief executives in the region had been invited to attend the forum, which is a very important event.

Also invited are the region’s business leaders and industry captains, regional and provincial heads of national government agencies, the academe, non-government organization, members of the press, and consumer organizations.

Jain, quoting a passage in the ASEAN Economic Community Factbook, said that AEC 2015, in a nutshell, is the aspiration of the ASEAN 10-member states for regional economic integration by the year 2015.

Jain said the AEC will have the following key features or characteristics: a single market and production base; a highly competitive economic region; a region of equitable economic development; and, a region fully integrated into the global economy.

ASEAN, which stands for Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is composed of the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Lao People’s Democratic Republic. (PNA)
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